Bella Hadid admits she has a history of settling for “abusive” relationships.
“I constantly went back to men – and also, women – that had abused me and that’s where the people pleasing came in,” the supermodel, 25, admitted on Victoria’s Secret’s “US Voices” podcast.
“I started not having boundaries, not only sexually, physically, emotionally, but then it went into my work space. I began to be a people-pleaser with my job.”
Bella, who is the daughter of real estate developer Mohamed Hadid and “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum Yolanda Hadid, is currently dating art director Marc Kalman, 33.
She famously dated The Weeknd, 31, on and off from 2015 to 2019.
“I always felt like my voice was never heard growing up. I grew up around men – whether that was in relationships or family or whatever that was – where I was constantly told that my voice was less important than their voice,” Bella recalled.
“Then moving into relationships growing up, and not having the boundaries of being able to stick up for myself and have my voice being heard, affected me in my adult relationships very intensely,” she continued. “My nervous system would crash. It was fight or flight.”
Bella shared that attempting to take breaks from social media has been a “powerful” healing tool.
“It sounds very cliche, but to not have the energy of everyone else and their projections being projected back onto you is one of the most powerful things of all time,” she said. “It’s a cliche for a reason because it’s a fact that it works.”
Earlier this month, Bella also made headlines for candidly discussing her inability to “control” herself while drinking.
“I have done my fair share of drinking. I loved alcohol and it got to the point where even I started to, you know, cancel nights out that I felt like I wouldn’t be able to control myself,” she told InStyle.
The model, who has been sober for six months, said it was “a lot harder to pick up the glass” after a doctor showed her scans revealing the effects alcohol has on the brain.
“I don’t feel the need [to drink anymore] because I know how it will affect me at 3 in the morning when I wake up with horrible anxiety thinking about that one thing I said five years ago when I graduated high school,” she admitted, noting that she was glad to give up the “ never-ending” cycle or “pain and stress.”